Sweet Rice Cake Balls with Black Sesame and Brown Sugar

Yesterday was the last day of Chinese New Year.  That was the end of 15 days’ celebration.  And sweet rice cake balls are a traditional festive dish to serve on this day.  They are round shape which symbolizes a better and more fortunate new year.  The sweetness of sweet rice cake balls represents a new year will go by smoothly without any trouble.

In the small southern town I am from, we serve sweet rice cake balls in sweet brown sugar and ginger soup.  The spiciness from the ginger root gives the whole dish an exotic flavor.  You will be surprised to taste how great brown sugar and ginger go together.

For sweet rice cake balls：

2 cups of sweet rice flour
3/4 cup of whole milk
1 teaspoon oil
2 teaspoons sugar

For black sesame fillings:

1 1/2 cups black sesame seeds
4 tablespoons honey
6 to 8 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar (use more if you have a sweet tooth)
1 to 2 tablespoons butter

 

Ground black sesame is available in Asian grocery store.  But I always prefer to roast and grind the black sesame seeds  myself.   The aroma is so much stronger and the flavor is more intense.

For the soup：

Water
1 small piece of ginger root
brown sugar to taste

Directions：

Heat a cast iron skillet with black sesame seeds over medium low heat.  Stir occasionally until the seeds are fully toasted.

It might be hard to tell when they are done because they are all black.

There is a trick that you can add a teaspoon white sesame seeds.  When they turn slightly yellow, you know the seeds are perfectly toasted.

Add roasted black sesame seeds to a coffee grinder in two or three batches.  Grind them as finely as you can.  But don’t over grind because they might turn into sesame butter. 

Microwave the butter until it is melted.  Add ground sesame, honey and confectioner’s sugar.  Mix well.

Divide them into equal small pieces.  I got 26 pieces.  You can make them any size you want, just not too big.   Roll each of them into a sesame ball.  Refrigerate for over 1 hour or until they harden, which will make the next step so much easier. 

In a medium bowl, add sweet rice flour and sugar.  And then add oil and milk while whisk with a pair of chopsticks or a wooden spoon.  When the flour starts to come together, knead with hands until it forms a sweet rice cake dough ball. 

Divide the dough into equal small pieces too, about the size of black sesame balls or a little bigger.

Press down one piece of dough.  Add black sesame ball to its center.

Wrap it up and roll into a ball again.  When you are working on the cake balls, remember to cover the rest with plastic wrap.  It is normal that sweet rice cake balls fall apart during the process because sweet rice flour has no gluten at all.

Repeat the process until all are done.

Cook the sweet rice balls in boiling water seasoned with sliced ginger and brown sugar until they float.

Serve immediately. 

This is definitely one of my favorite sweet rice cakes.  The nutty, fruity and strong sesame aroma becomes the star in this dish.  And the sweetness from honey, confectioner’s sugar and brown sugar just complete it.

If you don’t like ginger and brown sugar soup, it is ok to serve in them plain.  They taste great too. O(∩_∩)O~

Brioche Bread

中文： Brioche 面包

I just can’t get enough of soft, sweet, light and fluffy bread.  Brioche is also one of my favorites.  So I never stop trying different ways to make it.

 The recipe is adapted from http://forums.huaren.us/showtopic.aspx?topicid=1400907.  According to the author, she adapted from somewhere else.  Anyway, many thanks to the both authors who have contributed to this recipe!

PS.  I didn’t expect this piece of eggy dough to rise so high in the oven.  That is why we have a giant mushroom shape loaf here. O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup warm water
3 eggs
2egg yolks
6 tablespoons softened butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoon yeast
1/4teaspoon salt
 

For the filling：

2/3 cup raisins
4 to 6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 to 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
egg wash for brushing the top
white sesame seeds   (optional)

Directions：

Dissolve the yeast in warm water.  Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add water with yeast, eggs, egg yolks, flour, sugar and salt to the bread machine .  Start dough process.  My bread machine will knead the dough for 20 minutes.

Stop the machine after kneading by pressing stop button for seconds.  Add diced softened butter, start dough process all over again.  This time, allow the machine to knead and proof the dough as programmed.

It takes about 2 hours for the dough to double in size.

Transfer the dough to a well-floured wooden board.  Punch down and knead gently to get rid of any big air bubbles.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Equally divide the dough into 4 pieces.  With a rolling pin, roll each one flat and thin; sprinkle with brown sugar, ground cinnamon and raisins; and then roll up from one end all the way to the other end.  

Loosely braid them together.  Proof the dough again in a greased loaf pan. 

It takes about another hour or so for the dough to double in size again.

Preheat the oven to 350F/177C.  

Brush the top with egg wash.  Sprinkle with white sesame seeds.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the baking pan you are using.  You might need to cover the bread with a piece of foil to prevent too dark color on the top.

Sweet Rice Cake with Red Beans and Coconut Milk

Right now, we are celebrating the Chinese New Year.  According to the tradition, the celebration lasts for 15 days.  It is just like Christmas for American people.  We get together with families and friends, partying, eating, drinking and having a wonderful time.  And we have some traditional holiday food too.  Sweet rice cake is one of them.

Ok, I am crazy about sweet rice cakes.  I have met any sweet rice cake I don’t like.  Sweet, savory, spicy… love them all.  One of my favorites is the traditional sweet rice cake with brown sugar. I add red beans and coconut milk to add more flavor and texture.  And it turns out fantastic! 

You can serve the sliced sweet cake right away, and you can pan fry them like I do.  It is so so so good that we always have to fight for the last piece. O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients:

1 package of sweet rice flour (16 oz)
1package of red beans (12 oz)
1 3/4 to 2 cups coconut milk
1  to 1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar  (use more if you have a sweet tooth)
water for boiling

I love red beans.  So I use the whole package here.  You can use half or 2/3 package.

I use light coconut milk from trader joe’s.  It tastes good and contains less fat and calories than the regular coconut milk. O(∩_∩)O~

Directions：

Add water and red beans to a medium stock pot.  Heat it on high heat.  When the water boils, reduce to medium heat and cook for 50 to 60 minutes just until the beans are tender but don’t fall apart yet.

Drain the beans well.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together sweet rice flour and dark brown sugar.

Add coconut milk and whisk just until the dry flour is gone.

With a rubber spatula, fold in cooked red beans.

Spray a round glass bowl, and line up with parchment paper.

Steam the sweet rice cake on a vegetable steamer  in a covered pot. I love to use Lodge 6 quart Dutch oven for steaming.  Steam over medium heat for about 60 to 70 minutes.

Now it is done.

Remove from glass bowl

Remove parchment paper.  Isn’t it beautiful?

You can serve it immediately.  The sweet rice cake might be sticky now.  Dip the knife into cold water with every cut.  It helps to make it easier to slice the sweet rice cake.

It is good the way it is right now.

After refrigerating for a couple days, the cake begins to harden. 

Cut into thick slices.

Heat a cast iron pan over low heat.  Add 1 to 2 teaspoons cooking oil.

Add sliced sweet rice cake.

Flip them when the bottom side is gold brown.

Flip them when the bottom side is gold brown.

Cook until both sides are golden brown.

It takes time to make great pan-fried sweet rice cake.  Heating over low heat means longer cooking time but also means they will get crunchier and crispier on the outside. 

Top with honey if you like.

Now it is time to enjoy!  It is crunchy and crispy on the outside, soft and sweet and sort of gooey on the inside.  O(∩_∩)O~

Stir-fried Rice with Soy Sauce

中文： 酱油炒饭

Stir-fried rice is also one of my favorite comfort foods. You should be able to find stir-fried rice in any Chinese restaurants.  They come in so many flavors and countless combinations of meats and vegetables that there are many cooking books devoted to stir-fried rice. 

A good bowl of stir-fried rice should feed you and also satisfy you at the same time.  I learned how to cook rice when I was in elementary school.  And now I am still learning how to do it better and better.  O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients:

1 bowl of cooked rice (about 2 cups; cooked and refrigerate overnight)
2 egg yolks
2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce  I use low sodium soy sauce)
1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/4  to 1/2  teaspoon oyster sauce
2 to 3 tablespoons cooking oil
a pinch of sugar
a pinch of ground white pepper
2 teaspoons lard ( I use bacon fat)
2/3 diced ham
chopped green onion

Sometimes I collect excessive bacon oil when I bake bacon in the oven.  Drained and stored in an air-tight mason jar, it will last a long time in the refrigerator. 

I use it to bake some traditional flaky crispy cookies like this one.  They always come out amazing. (The cookie recipe was posted before )

I use low sodium soy sauce .  If you are using the regular one, please sample the rice a couple times when adding soy sauce and dark soy sauce.  You might need to use less.

Dark soy sauce  is usually used for food coloring.  It is not as salty as soy sauce.

Directions：

The secret to good stir-fried rice is cooked and refrigerate overnight rice.  Do not the use the freshly cooked rice because it is kind of sticky.  Trust me; you don’t want sticky rice when you are making stir-fried rice.

Break apart any large lump of rice with a wooden spoon or fork.  Try not to smash them.

Add 2 egg yolks to the rice.  With a pair of chopsticks, gently whisk them together. 

 

Heat a wok over high heat.  Add oil, and then the rice with egg yolks.  Stir fry until both the rice and yolks are cooked through.  

Transfer to a plate.

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If you do it right, nothing shall stick to the wok.  If you don’t, clean and rinse the wok under running water before moving on to next step. O(∩_∩)O~

Heat the wok on high heat again.  Add bacon fat.  When it melts, swirl the wok a couple times so that the bacon fat can evenly coat the bottom of the wok.  That is a very important step.

Add cooked rice.  Stir fry for a couple minutes.  The rice shall be evenly coated with bacon fat and it is kind of glowing.  Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and oyster sauce.

Stir fry for another couple minutes.  Add ground white pepper, chopped green onion and diced ham.  Stir fry for one last minute.

Now you have a bowl of beautiful stir-fried rice with soy sauce.

I think the best way to enjoy it is to take small bites.  The umami taste comes from the combination of soy sauce, eggs, ham and rice cooked together over high heat and it is very satisfying. That is the reason why it is called comfort food. O(∩_∩)O~

Lamb Soup with Diced Chinese Bread

中文：羊肉泡馍

Lamp soup with diced Chinese bread is a traditional dish in central China where wheat is widely grown instead of rice.   Because there are proteins, starch, veggies all in one bowl, a bowl of soup like this can be served as breakfast, lunch or dinner. 

Served piping hot the second right after it is cooked, a bowl of lamb soup does not just provide you energy to get through the day, but also brings you comfort in cold winter time.

The authentic way is to make lamp soup with both lamb and lamb bones.  I don’t have any lamb bones, so I substitute with a free range chicken.

And the dense hearty pan grilled Chinese bread is a must for the dish. O(∩_∩)O~

They always come with pickled young garlic and chili sauce. 

Ingredients for the lamb soup:

1 large piece of lamb leg (about 2 to 3 pounds)
1 free range chicken
1 large piece of ginger root, sliced into thick pieces
2 to 3 stalks green onion
3 bay leaves
1 black cardamom pot
3 to 4 pieces of dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices
2 star anises (optional)
1/2teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons rice cooking wine
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon  ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
water
salt to taste

For individual serving:

1/2 to 1 head pickled garlic
chopped cilantro
Chinese vermicelli (It is super fine noodles made from green bean starch), soaked in water for at least 1 hour
edible tree black fungus
chili sauce
 

For the dough:

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup water
a pinch of salt

 

Directions：

Rinse the chicken under cold running water.  Pat dry and chop the chicken into 3 by 4 inches pieces.

Soak the lamb in a large pot of cold water for 2 hours.  Change the water two to three times in between.

Wrap the bay leaves, star anises, cardamom, rhizome, Sichuan peppercorns and black peppercorns with a piece of coffee filter.

Tightly tie it up

Blanch both diced chicken and lamb in boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes.  Drain well.

In a large Staub Dutch oven pot , add chicken and lamb.  Fill the pot with fresh boiling water.  The water should be 4 to 5 inches above the meat.  

Heat the pot over high heat until it boils.  Add rice cooking wine, spices wrapped in coffee filter paper, green onions and ginger root slices.

Reduce the heat to simmer for about 2 hours.

Discard the green onions.

Add sugar, ground white pepper and salt to taste.

Continue to cook for another 20 minutes.  Now we have a nice pot of lamb soup.  Remove from heat.  Transfer the lamb to a plate.  Allow it to completely cool down.

When the soup is simmering on the stove, I make the Chinese bread.

Add flour, salt and water to s stand mixer  mixing bowl.

Set it to speed 2.  Knead for about 10 minutes.

Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Transfer to a wooden board.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow it rest for 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 to 8 equal pieces.

We are on a low carbohydrates diet so that I divide it into 16 pieces.  

Each piece weighs 28 grams.  I use a kitchen scale  to make sure they are all the same size.  The stand size is bigger than this. O(∩_∩)O~ 

With a small rolling pin, roll each piece flat.

Fold it in the middle.

Roll up from one end all the way to the other end.

Repeat the process until all the pieces are finished.

With your palm, press them down and then roll every single one into flat disc shape.

Heat a cast iron skillet  over medium low heat. 

Add the bread dough pieces.  Cover with lid.  Cook each side for 2 to 3 minutes until they are golden brown.  if you are doing larger dough pieces, remember to extend the cooking time accordingly.

All done

The traditional way is to break them apart with finger tips.  I just find it more efficient and easier to dice them up with a sharp knife.

Slice the lamb

The correct way is to fill each individual bowl with dice bread, wood black mushroom, green bean noodles and lamb.

Add 1 to 1 1/2 lamb stock to a small soup pot.  Heat over high heat until it boils.  Add what is in the bowl to the pot.  Cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat.  Transfer everything back to bowl.  Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.  Add pickled garlic and chili sauce on the top.

Serve it hot immediately.  The lamp soup goes really well with cilantro and pickled garlic.  Try not to skip them because it is the most authentic way to enjoy it.  O(∩_∩)O~

I made the pickled garlic from what I harvested from our backyard vegetable garden. 

The recipe was posted before.

They get better when sitting longer in the sugar vinegar brine.

And yes, I made my own chili sauce too.  The recipe is here.